The Delimitation of the Robot Concept for Tax Purposes

The idea of taxing robots was popularized in 2017 by Bill Gates on the grounds that robots would “steal” humans’ jobs and therefore should collect taxes to fund education and training programs.

The theme gained repercussion in the academic environment, fostering multidisciplinary debates that are essential for understanding the phenomena of society’s digitization, however without tackling practical issues related to legal matters.

This study uses qualitative research through secondary data to prove changes in the labor market with the replacement of human activities by robots and, consequently, the impacts on tax revenues. The challenge is to identify which characteristics together can qualify the type of taxable robot.